London Photos: Day 1

Just a few photos from our trip to London: Day 1.  I spent a good amount of yesterday editing these photos, so enjoy.  I'd post more, but I don't know how to do an "lj-cut" type of thing here on blogger.  Haha.  Please click on the photos to see the full-size resolution.   

At DIA - waiting for our flight out to Chicago!

Our room - The Radisson Leicester Square Hotel

In Chinatown - just a block from our hotel.

The National Gallery - Just behind our hotel

The National Gallery (left) & St. Martins In The Fields (right)

Trafalgar Square - We probably went here everyday. Haha. It's the 4th most popular tourist attraction in the world.  It's always busy here.

Pretty building I saw while walking.  It's hard to do night photography without a tripod, but I do enjoy it!

Big Ben - I finally got to see him!

Westminster Bridge

The River Thames & The London Eye

Houses of Parliament & Big Ben

Waterloo Bridge, I think.

Having a drink on a boat on the River Thames!

Cheers!

There was a bar/club downstairs on the boat & we met this random group of guys there & hung out with them for a bit :)

With the London Eye behind us.

and that's our first day/night in London!  I actually have to download the other photos from my little camera.  I'll post a round 2 of day 1 sometime later.  I took wayyyy too many pictures.  Hahah.  I got a couple great photos though :)  More to come later!

 

Stonehenge.

This was an old entry that was saved as a draft since my laptop crapped out & I was too lazy to go back and finish the entry...


Being in England has been great.  I continue to forget that I am in a different country despite the constant reminders:  driving on the "wrong" side of the road, narrow roads, ancient buildings, abundance of mercedes & BMWs, & extremely expensive everything.  Different terms I've learned thus far:


Bathroom = Toilet or Loo
Take out = Take away
Cotton Candy = Candy Floss
Popsicle = Ice lolly
Fries = Chips
Subway = Tube


It's quite interesting.  The accents still amuse me.  Just listening to my little nephew speak cracks me up.  Ok, he's not so little.  According to this stores measuring poster thing, Gian is the height of a 7 year old (he just turned 6 on Saturday).  I am the height of a 12 1/2 year old.  Hahah!  


Anyway, we checked out of the hotel on Monday morning.  We left our baggage with Guest Services while Peter & I walked around London.  We headed down to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard.  We made it just in time to watch them at their starting point.  We then headed down the street to the gates where there was a SEA of people.  We pretty much missed most of the ceremony as everyone fought for a spot near the gates.  We could hear the band/guards, but we couldn't see anything.  So we waited & waited  until they came towards our way.  The man standing next to us had extremely bad body odor.  It was a bit nauseating to say the least.  It was bright & sunny out, so everytime a gust of wind blew by, the feeling was bittersweet.


After that we got a drink & sat around & relaxed in the park for a bit.  We walked some more through the sights and ended up in Covent Garden.  We should've gone here earlier!  We were hanging around Chinatown so much, we didn't get a chance to check this area out.  We did some shopping and picked up some things for people.  I also now have more scarves than I will ever need in a lifetime.  There were a lot of shops & it was just a quaint collection of buildings, stores, & restaurants.  Performers also riddled the streets as the masses were drawn to them like flies.  We finally said our goodbyes to Leicester Square and headed to the Tube.

My cousin & his family were gracious enough to let us stay with them for the remainder of our trip.  We all went to Stonehenge today.  I never thought I would get to see such a sight this early on in my life, but I did.  I expected it to be much more grand, but it didn't disappoint.  Just being there.. was amazing for me.  Maybe if we were allowed closer, allowed to actually touch the rocks, the henges would surely tower over me.  Being in the English countryside was also a sight to see.  Peter, my nephew (cousin's son! it's just easier to say nephew), & I took a walk through the grasslands to get closer to the sheep.  It was adorable seeing my nephew follow Peter like that.  I can't imagine how the experience would've been if we were there for sunrise or sunset.  There were sooo many tourists there.  I think I would very much like to enjoy the area all by my lonesome.  There's a sense of mystery there, a sense of peace.  I'd prefer it not be clouded by the presence of people all around me.  I'll have to do that next time!  I picked up some postcards & a stonehenge ecobag (only £2.50!) as souvenirs.  


We headed out shortly after our walk through the fields.  We stopped by KFC for lunch!  Yum yum.  I love KFC.  It was interesting to see the menu & their portions of food once again.  I continuously receive reminders of how over indulgent us American's can be.  Their "large" sized side dishes were no bigger than those mini-sized play-doh containers!  I was also amused by my nephews choice of food.  Sweet corn dipped in baked beans & ketchup.  LOL.  Kids are so strange.  


We started heading back towards the city to go "picking" at this farm.  You can pick your own berries, fruits, vegetables, or flowers, & just pay for them at the closest kiosk.  Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating and it started pouring rain.  We decided to head back to Hayes & once we got home, the sun broke through the clouds & the rain stopped.  Great timing!  Hahah.  At that point my cousin decided to just take us shopping in Uxbridge.  I picked up a last minute birthday gift for my mom & my cousin hooked me up with a super sweet pair of Adidas Superstar shoes!  Oh man, I love it, so much!  I don't think you can find it in the states, which makes it even more sweet!  He even got me a Nike top to use for sports/running.  I know, I'm so spoiled :)) It's the benefits of being the baby of the family.  Hehe.


I'm so lucky.  So blessed in my life.

When In London.

London has been great thus far.  Everything is damn expensive.  Everyone is hustlin` & bustlin'.  The streets are lively.  Never a lack of uninteresting passersby.  The accents.. oh the accents!  I love it.

I am so fascinated with my little nephew (my cousin's son!) everytime he speaks.  Even my cousin & his wife's accents have changed.  So awesome.  Hahah!

We've pretty much seen all the staples here in London.  Most of the must-sees.  We didn't do any tours or go inside really.  We missed our chance to see inside Westminster Abbey due to my misjudgement on the Tube rails/paths.  We ended up walking another 20 minutes to get to the church.  By then the service was ending :(  Ugh.

We did take a tour of the Chelsea stadium (Soccer/Futbol) today though.  This was moreso for Peter than me.  Haha.  He looked like a little kid in a candy store, all googly-eyed & drooling at the site before him.  He's happy now.

As long as we get to go to Stonehenge, I will be satisfied.  Seriously.  That's all I want to see.  Anyhow, I'm pretty pooped.  Night night.

Taking Advice.

I took Jalene's advice.  I can freely write without consequence, without inhibitions.  In 5 years, right Jalene?  Who knows where we'll be in a few years.  For all we know, 2012 is gonna be the year of the Anunaki, Lol.

I'm currently debating whether or not to send this message at the moment. Ah f&ck it.  All guards down until I go back to reality in a couple of hours.

Yep, back to Colorado... Leaving on a jet plane again.  *shivers*  I don't like the thought of planes.  In about 12 hours.  Thinking about leaving home again is kind of making me sad.  I never feel fulfilled.  Not enough.  Nothing is ever enough.

All things aside, I think I feel a little guilty about leaving my mom again.  I know she'll miss me terribly.  Her health has been better, but I'm praying that her medications start working.  It's been 3 months.  I don't want to even bare the thought of her needing surgery, especially in THAT area.  It's critical her medicine works. *sigh*

I guess I should do more packing.. my thoughts are becoming incoherent.

The Journey Home.

Last night at 9:45pm while watching the Nuggets vs. Lakers game coming down to the wire... I realized I had less than 15 minutes to book my flight to Maui!  I originally put this flight on hold 2 days before and prices jumped over those 2 days, so I knew I had to book my flight.

All in all, with taxes and everything, $373 round-trip to Maui on United Airlines.  That's with one stop-over in LAX and one in DEN on the way back. Oh yes, there's a catch, I have to fly out of Colorado Springs instead of Denver.  I'm going to see if I can just stay in DEN on my way back up though.  Haha.  Saving $100 seems to be worth the extra 1 1/2 hour trip down to COS ;)  So, it's official, I'll be home June 4th - July 28th.  I gave heed to my mother's request to stay longer, at least till the end of the month.  My mom deserves it and I did promise to take care of her.

I have quite a few things to take care of when I get home.  I don't want to be a slave to my thoughts and ill-feelings toward numerous parties.  My mother won't say anything and I can clearly see the burden that everything is causing.  Therefore, I'm going to take it upon myself to let all the assholes of the world know that karma is alive and kicking.  Frankly, I'm tired of all the bullshit and ungrateful people.  My mother is too great a woman to confront others, but I love her too much to let anyone else hurt her.

My mom can't afford to be stressed about anything right now.  These things can prove to be detrimental to her health as she continues to go through therapy and is recovering.  Unforunately, things just never stop though.  Today, we received word that Mr. Suzuki (Suzuki Sensei in the Aikido world) passed away in the early morning hours.  He was 92.  Mr. Suzuki was my mom's patient and lived with us for about 2 years or so under the care of my mom.  She called him "Papa" and really loved him.  As for myself, I really respected him as a person.  He was a legend in his own right.  It's rare to witness a humble spirit in a man with his status.  

I wrote a 10 page paper about him my senior year of college. I need to re-write it to fit the occasion and probably condense it to no more than 2 pages. My mom wants me to send my paper to his family.  All I know is, Maui lost a great soul today.  The Aikido world lost a great teacher.  Some things I'd like to highlight about Mr. Suzuki:

• At the age of 90, he attained of kyudan, or 9th degree black belt in Aikido.
• He is the first non-Japanese citizen and only the fourth person ever to achieve a 9th degree black belt rank in his martial art.
  
• His promotion made Suzuki Sensei highest-ranked aikido instructor in the world outside of Japan.
  
• He was a police officer for the Maui Police Department for 32 years & retired as a Major.
• He volunteered his time to teach new MPD recruits the art of self-defense from 1953 until 2007.
• Shin’ichi Suzuki Sensei: Head Instructor, Maui Ki-Aikido
  
• Maui aikido ’sensei’ attains 9th-degree black belt rank
  
• Honored Teacher

He had quite a life and I am grateful and honored to have met someone like him.  I wish he held on just a few weeks more.  I would've liked to visit him and present him with the paper I wrote about him.  I'll always remember him sitting at the table with a pile of Christmas cards, painstakingly hand-writing a card to each and every person that sent him cards & well-wishes.  We talked and talked and talked that day.  Until we meet again Mr. Suzuki.  'Let your ki flow like a stream.'  May the waters embrace your soul and like a river lead you home.

Photo: Iao Valley circa 2007. Cotton candy effect.

Confirmed. England, here we come.

August 26th - September 3rd.

This week will live in infamy for the rest of my life.  Why?  Because this is the scheduled date of Peter & I's trip to London, England!!! Yes, I finally got he confirmation dates :)  How awesome is that?

Backstory:  I was bored in mid-November and decided to try my hand at sweepstakes.  The second night I played them, I instantly won a trip for 4 days/4 nights in London from a Coke Zero instant win game.  I was shocked to say the least.. It was my first win from an online sweepstake!

I am so glad everything is coming together.  We still need our hotel reservation confirmation, but I'm not really anticipating anything great for that.  Haha.  Originally, the trip I won was for 4 days, but I was able to extend the trip to a full week, without charge.  We'll be staying with my cousin Arnel after our 4 night hotel stay.  I guess he & his wife will try to take leave for the week that we are there :)  I'm also making arrangements with my other cousin Ela to meet up with her sometime while I'm there.  Hope things work out.  It'd be nice to meet up with them somewhere else in the world besides the Philippines ;)  

If I had it my way, I would've stayed at least 3 weeks!  Lol.  Peter works though, so that's a bummer.  The things I could've done in Europe!  I definitely would've taken a train to Milan, Italy and visit ALLLLLL my family there.  There's so many cousins, aunts, uncles, and all their children that I haven't seen in YEARS and years.  One day, I'd like to backpack through Europe, stay in hostels, do an odd job to get extra cash, hitchhike on a farmers truck, etc. etc.  One day.

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Also, an update on me hand.  When I said I'm missing two knuckles, I meant it quite literally.  It's broken, duh.  Classic Boxer's Fracture.  Here's 2 sets of photos.  1 from a couple of days after the fact & the other from 2 days ago.  I know, it's still bruised.  I'll live.